Victory in Clean Water Act Case Saves Community’s Water Supply

Client Alert

Brownstein Client Alert, January 29, 2015

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck secured a decision in the federal court for the District of Colorado precluding third parties from closing a Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) well that supplies water for Brownstein’s client, Park Center Water District.

In denying the plaintiff’s request to shut down the BLM well, the court noted that Park Center depends on the water to serve its 4,000 customers, who have no other feasible water supply. Further, the court found that plaintiffs did not demonstrate discharges from the old well caused irreparable harm, especially given that BLM had entered into a Federal Compliance Agreement with the EPA to restrict uncontrolled discharges from the well. The court therefore declined to enjoin the BLM’s operation of the well.